Description: Sylvia (Charlize Theron) is a beautiful
restaurant manager whose cool, professional demeanor masks
the sexually-charged storm within. When a stranger from
Mexico confronts her with her dark and hidden past, Sylvia
is launched into a journey, painfully forcing her to face
her demons and the past she thought she had left behind.
From the internationally acclaimed writer of Babel,
21 Grams and Amores Perros, and starring Oscar
Winners Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger, The Burning
Plain depicts the harrowing story of a woman on the edge
who takes and emotional journey back to the defining moment
of her life.

What's it all about?
The directorial debut of screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (who wrote
Amores Perros,
21 Grams,
Three Burials and Babel), The Burning Plain
stars Charlize Theron as Sylvia, a beautiful restaurant manager in rainy
Portland, Oregon, who's having an affair with her married employee (John
Corbett). Her story is intercut with several seemingly disconnected
desert scenes in which: a young girl (Tessa Ia) lives happily with her
crop-dusting father (Danny Pino) and his best friend (Jose Maria Yazpik),
until a tragic accident changes everything; a married mother of three
(Kim Basinger) begins a passionate affair with a Mexican father (Joaquim
De Almeida); and two teenagers (Jennifer Lawrence and JD Pardo) find
love in the aftermath of their parents' sudden deaths.

The Good
In Arriaga's trademarked style, timelines are fractured and key events
take place out of sequence, so your enjoyment of The Burning Plain
will largely depend on how quickly you put all the pieces together. In
addition, the script deals with powerful themes of guilt, forbidden
love, facing up to responsibility and coming of age, whilst refusing to
offer the easy emotional pay-offs you might be expecting.

Magnolia Entertainment chooses
another strong, under-marketed, film (bad poster too!)
rendered with a
decent but limiting single-layered transfer (see
Two Lovers,
The Great Buck Howard,
Surveillance and
Life Before Her Eyes). The
Blu-ray
looks adequate but lacks some depth although detail, colors
and contrast are generally well above the SD-DVD format
level. Beautiful scenes are more the credit of Elswit +
Toll's cinematography and the exquisite Oregon coast and
desert landscapes of Las Cruces, New Mexico - than the
lackluster 1080P VC-1 transfer which can look a shade softer
than you might anticipate. There is limited grain and no
discernable DNR. In short, this looks good enough to support
the film well - but not particularly great (perhaps we are
spoiled.)

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Audio :

The
DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 2920 kbps is solid. The film has some
aggression with crashing waves, crackling fire, plane engines and also
the subtle whistling winds in the wheat fields

that reach back to the rear speakers. No gunplay is involved and
dialogue is occasionally softly spoken but nothing that deterred
following the film's pace. There are optional English or Spanish
subtitles and my Momitsu
has identified
it as being a region 'A'-locked disc.

Extras :

The supplements
consists of two featurettes lasting about an hour in total. I enjoyed
both - in the 'Making Of...' Arriaga explains his motivations and
concepts of the story he wrote and expands on some of the performances
and his appreciation for the various crew. There is a 15-minute piece on
the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's music (also Hans Zimmer is credited),
Magnolia's usual, insufferable, HDNet plug and some Previews in HD.
There is a Bookmark feature and untested BD-LIVE functionality. I have
the feeling a commentary may have been in the offing but none surfaces
on this
Blu-ray.

BOTTOM LINE: Once again I felt I saw a near masterpiece film that critics panned
- but the general public loved (MRQE critic consensus 49% -
IMDb public rating 6.9/10 - Ebert; 2.5/4 - his readers;
3.5/4). I felt quite certain the themes of the 4 elements
representing characters* was missed by many but this film
still has a lot of merit from magnificent performances to
fluid direction and brilliant cinematography. Perhaps people
are jaded on incomplete puzzle-aspect of the converging
storylines spread over multiple timelines and locations. So
be it. I thought this was an engrossing, beautiful but
morose work. If the complaint is that it is too scattered -
I'm not buying it (do people have to be spoon-fed every
single, solitary, detail these days?). If it is too
'obvious' - well, I guess I just didn't catch on quick
enough.

The
Blu-ray transfer is nothing to rave over - superior to SD and worth it for
the significant vista shots just don't expect the 'best'
this format has to offer. There is a UK
Blu-ray
HERE that I am tempted
to pick up and compare but imagine the quality is not far
off this Magnolia release. Well, I strongly recommend this
film and this
Blu-ray is the best way to view it in your home theater. I suggest giving
this a spin especially if you liked Arriaga's penned film
work like
21 Grams or
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

About the Reviewer:
Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film
since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was
around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my
horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out
new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500
DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my
discussion Listserv for furthering my film
education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver.
Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our
Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be
it, but film will always be my first love and I list my
favorites on the old YMdb site now accessible
HERE.